August 31, 2017
Why Kim Jong Un Isn’t Afraid of Donald Trump
Jon Wolfsthal
Most Americans think North Korea is a crazy place, led by a crazy man bent on global destruction. This view, of course, is almost completely wrong and explains in part why the current public discussion about what to do with a nuclear North Korea is so unsatisfying. Far from crazy, Kim Jong Un has been methodical and careful enough in advancing his nuclear and missile programs to suggest that he is deterred by America’s overwhelming military capabilities, and at the very least is not eager to spark a military conflict—at least not yet.
France Sees Talks on Post-Iran Nuclear Deal, Ballistic Missile Use
Reuters
France suggested on Wednesday that the nuclear deal Iran struck with world powers in 2015 could be supplemented through “future consultations” to include the post-2025 period and tackle Iran’s development of ballistic missiles. Under the deal, most international sanctions were lifted in return for Iran undertaking long-term curbs on its nuclear program, which the West suspected was aimed at developing the means to build an atomic bomb.
North Korea's Kim Jong Un Urges More Missile Launches Targeting Pacific
Los Angeles Times
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un called for more weapons launches targeting the Pacific Ocean to advance his country's ability to contain Guam, state media said Wednesday, a day after Pyongyang for the first time flew a ballistic missile designed to carry a nuclear payload over Japan. Tuesday's aggressive missile launch — likely the longest ever from North Korea — over a close U.S. ally sends a clear message of defiance as Washington and Seoul conduct annual military drills. The Korean Central News Agency said the launch was a "muscle-flexing" countermeasure to the Ulchi Freedom Guardian joint exercises that conclude Thursday. Pyongyang views the drills as invasion rehearsals and often conducts weapons tests and escalates its rhetoric when they are held.
Trump Says 'Talking Not the Answer' on North Korea, Mattis Disagrees
Channel News Asia
President Donald Trump on Wednesday (Aug 31) declared "talking is not the answer" to the tense standoff with North Korea over its nuclear missile development, but his defense chief swiftly asserted that diplomatic options remain, and Russia demanded US restraint. Trump's comment, a day after Pyongyang fired a ballistic missile over Japan that drew U.N. and other international condemnation, renewed his tough rhetoric toward reclusive, nuclear-armed and increasingly isolated North Korea.
IAEA Launches Low-Enriched-Uranium Bank In Eastern Kazakhstan
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
A new reserve bank for low enriched uranium (LEU) designed to discourage new countries from enriching the nuclear fuel was inaugurated in eastern Kazakhstan on August 29 -- the UN International Day Against Nuclear Tests. President Nursultan Nazarbaev handed the director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Yukiya Amano, a symbolical key to the facility at a ceremony in Kazakhstan’s capital, Astana.
Not an ICBM? Still an Open Question
David Wright | Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists
The kinematic approach. One can assess the capability of the Hwasong-14 missile in two ways. Both approaches reveal interesting information, but both have their limitations. The first approach is based largely on physics alone. It starts with the highly lofted trajectory that North Korea’s missile flew on July 28 and calculates how far the same missile, with the same (unknown) payload, could travel if it were flown instead on a flatter, more standard trajectory. That distance can be determined by numerically integrating the equations of motion of the missile, including the thrust of the engines, the force of gravity, and atmospheric drag.